How San Diego Comic-Con Became Fandom's Super-Brand

San Diego Comic-Con, the center of the fan universe, kicks off July 21. (PRNewsFoto/Comic-Con International)

As pop culture and fan conventions have become a billion-dollar business, the biggest and oldest show of them all, San Diego Comic-Con, continues to stand apart. That's not only because of its size (upwards of 135,000 attendees) and influence (billions of media impressions generated over the weekend), but because of its unique history and mission.

Comic-Con began in 1970 as a fan-organized event, and in the 1970s became a 501(c)3 educational nonprofit dedicated to "creating awareness of, and appreciation for, comics and related popular artforms." The organization, today known as Comic-Con International, is run by a tight-knit organizing committee including Executive Director Fae Desmond, President John Rogers and a core staff, many of whom have been with the Con for decades.

One of those key organizers is David Glanzer, Chief Communication and Strategy Officer for CCI. Glanzer is a long-time science fiction fan and movie buff who attended his first Comic-Con in 1978, began volunteering in 1984, and was offered a staff position in 1994. His department is responsible for overseeing all advertising, sponsorship and third party promotional associations, social media, rights and clearances as well as over 3,000 members of the domestic and international media.

This year, as CCI is about to launch the 47th edition of its flagship event (SDCC 2016 runs July 21-24, with a Preview Night on Wednesday, July 20) and welcome hundreds of thousands of costumed fans, industry professionals, Hollywood studios and exhibitors to San Diego, I had a chance to ask Glanzer about the increasing influence of the show, its recent partnership with Lionsgate Studios to launch the Comic-Con HQ Network, and its plans for the future, including its relationship with the city of San Diego.

ROB SALKOWITZ: A few years ago, SDCC was the only fan event in North America to get more than 100,000 attendees. Now there are maybe half a dozen of that size, depending on how you count attendance, and a bunch in the 60-80K range, although I believe SDCC is still tops. What do you think are the biggest drivers of growth, both of geek culture events in general and Comic-Con in particular?

DAVID GLANZER: We stopped issuing press releases for attendance at our events because conventions count attendees any number of different ways. We are comfortable saying that our attendance is well in excess of 135,000 individual attendees. If we counted our people the way some other events count, we would have in excess of 320,000.

With regard to our event I think our strength is that we’re fans ourselves. We try to produce the type of event we would like to attend ourselves. We welcome new attendees and welcome back attendees who have been to the show previously.

One thing I have noticed of late is that not all people who attend conventions are the same. We make a point of targeting our outreach to people who have an interest in comics and popular art. Instead of having a shotgun approach of just trying to get people through the door, we try to get people through the door that have an interest in the unique offerings at the show. This proves very popular for our panel and program presenters as well as our exhibitors. People aren’t coming by to just see what all the hoopla is, they are more interested in what they can learn, explore or purchase at the show.

RS:Are you concerned about oversaturation?

DG: I think so long as we produce a top-notch event and serve the needs of our attendees as best we can I think we’ll be okay. If there is a concern, it would be shows that are produced more for the bottom line, than the celebration of popular art.

SAN DIEGO, CA - JULY 11: Comic-Con executive David Glanzer (L) presents writer-director Joss Whedon with the Icon Award onstage at Dark Horse: An Interview with Joss Whedon during Comic-Con International 2015 at the San Diego Convention Center on July 11, 2015 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

RS: What have been some of the biggest challenges of managing the growth that SDCC has undergone in the past 10-15 years?

DG: Growth itself. Having to cap exhibitor attendance, and general attendance is something we wish we didn’t have to do. Also making sure that those that are affiliated with the event have a genuine relationship with comics and popular art. We have a great and unique demographic and are pinged constantly by organizations who want to target that demographic for marketing purposes.

But while it may be true that they are a key demo for marketing, we don’t want a participating company to exhibit or present a panel for that reason alone. They should have an organic relationship to comics and popular art. It’s a difficult area to maintain, but it’s one we pride ourselves on at least trying to remain true to our mission.

RS: CCI recently went into partnership with Lionsgate to launch the Comic-Con HQ network. Can you talk a little bit about how that came about and what it means for fans and media-watchers?

DG: We are often approached by a number of different companies hoping to establish an association with Comic-Con. It is very rare that we seek out these associations and oftentimes we have to say no as they just don’t seem like a good fit.

With regard to Lionsgate, they approached us some years back on an idea to bring Comic-Con to a wider audience. After several years and many meetings the idea for Comic-Con HQ came about. Our hope is that as the platform progresses we’ll see programs of interest to fans of Comic-Con that feature not only fun fare but educational programs as well. It’s all still a very new process for us and we’re very happy that CCHQ is aware of our concerns, keeps us in the loop and is mirroring our mission of bringing comics and popular art to a wider audience.

RS: Is this a sign that you are looking for other ways to extend the Comic-Con brand beyond the events that CCI runs?

DG: Again I think we are open to new opportunities. It is rare for us to seek them out, but it is also wonderful that people come to us with concepts or ideas that they feel will be of benefit to our attendee base.

Costumed characters ride the escalator on the second day of the 2015 Comic-Con International held at the San Diego Convention Center Friday, July 10, 2015 in San Diego. The pop-culture event runs July 9-12. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Invision/AP)

RS: Whereas most major conventions in North America are run as commercial businesses, CCI is a 501(c)3 – albeit a rather prosperous one according to your recent tax forms [over $17M in revenues reported in 2014 ]. How does your non-profit status impact your operations and your organizational strategy? How do you balance the obvious commercial components of your activities with your organizational mission?

DG: You didn’t mention how much it costs to produce both Comic-Con and WonderCon [note: In 2014, CCI reported $13.1M in event-related expenses and $728K in administration costs, giving it a net gain of $3.4M] . The revenue is great, and we’ve been told we could monetize our brand even more. But we’re not in the business to make money; we’re an educational organization with a mission of promoting comics and popular art.

I am fascinated that our first show in 1970 featured comic books, science fiction and film; three areas of popular art that were, at the time, considered less art and more just entertainment. Flash forward and people respect comic art as a viable form of artistic expression, science fiction is not just for a segment of the population but is well read and viewed by people of any number of differing demographics and film is now regarded so highly that the US Congress established the National Film Registry recognizing America’s film heritage. There are new areas of interest for us now, interactive multimedia, costuming, gaming, collectibles etc., by promoting these artistic areas of expression we hope we are informing the public that art can come in a variety of forms.

RS: For all of its 47-year history, SDCC has been in San Diego, although every couple of years rumors arise that it might move. Meanwhile studies show that the Con brings in something like $139M to the city each year. Can you talk a little about the relationship between the Con and the city and the factors that might influence you to stay or leave?

DG: We don’t do economic impact studies because, again, that’s not our focus. We were born in San Diego and want to remain here. But there are challenges. We don’t have enough space to accommodate all the exhibitors who would like to exhibit, programming for all those hoping to present a program and attendees who want to come and experience the show.

It is our attendees who really determine if we will stay or leave. If our room blocks shrink and the prices go beyond what is affordable for our attendees then it’s going to be difficult to hold the show in San Diego. We are so grateful to the hotels and the city that have allowed us to use ballrooms and park locations to expand beyond the confines of the convention center. But if that space becomes limited or unavailable, or too expensive, then that could pose a problem. The bottom line is we have a good relationship with stakeholders and I am always hopeful that agreements can work out that will of maximum benefit to our attendees.

RS: After all this time, is Comic-Con/fandom still fun for you?

It really is but in a totally different way. It’s funny, I give a ton of interviews during the course of the four-day show but on Sunday I really try to pull back a bit. Not because I’m necessarily tired, but because by Sunday I have experienced so much that I get easily emotional. A news reporter can ask me a question and I recall a family having an amazing time, a kid who gets to meet the creator of one of his favorite comics characters, a teenage fan of a particular movie star and it’s just a remarkable thing to know you had a part, however small, in making that happen.

So yes, it is still fun for me and as cheesy as this sounds (and I know it sounds cheesy) it’s fun for me because I see so many people having fun.